Rants // Rockstars of Old vs Rockstars of Now

Why talk about rock musicians so much? Do you want them to have more groupies?

That was the question asked of me in 2010s by a person whose tongue was held firmly behind their cheek. But it got stuck in my head since, much like a pop melody would sometimes. With the rise of streaming it took on a different dimension and I thought it would be fun to follow up and try to answer it knowing what I learned over the years about rock stardom, rockstars and big music business.

It would be foolish to deny that promise of endless debauchery lying ahead is what got many a rock musician into the business and gave them a career eventually. This was confirmed by the likes of Lars Ulrich, Lemmy and Dave Mustaine. Frank Zappa, reportedly, was such a huge fan of groupies that his marriage was constantly on the rocks.

At the same time saying that majority of music and art is created solely for career/self-gratification purposes is also wrong/horribly reductive. For every Lemmy, Slash and Lars there are thousands of talented rock musicians that will never make it commercially or reap any kind of reward from their work. Ironically even those that do often end up unable to deal with fame and meet early demise – 27 Club exists for a reason.

Furthermore, rock stars on the level of Kurt Cobain or Lemmy are nearly impossible to come by these days. It’s my overwhelming feeling that the death of a big, pampered rock star is part of the reason why conspiracy theorists and influencers got so ridiculously big. I’d say the biggest rockstars of the moment are Joe Rogan, Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Mr. Beast – i.e.  all the people that have no relation to rock stars of old, save for overwhelming narcissism and constant need for attention.

Yes, narcissism. I recognize its central to any ambitious and big career and at the same time I feel that naked narcissism alone does not make an interesting public figure.  For all the misogyny prominent in the music business, both Lemmy and Kurt spoke endlessly and championed the likes of Wendy O Williams, Joan Jett and The Raincoats. Lemmy also spoke out against racism and homophobia. Compare and contrast to someone like Donald Trump and you’ll see that for all the “no fucks given” behavior rock stars of old also weren’t afraid of showing how human they are. And while the pampered rock star of old is probably prob gone for good I hope one day the empathy and the humanness will return to the mainstream. Our survival depends on it.